After more than five years in early access, DayZ, the once-popular multiplayer survival game that directly inspired games such as H1Z1 and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, will officially launch next week. The team at Bohemia Interactive announced that it plans to release version 1.0 on Dec. 13.
DayZ leaves early access next week, 5 years after launch
Bohemia Interactive will continue adding to the game after the 1.0 version goes live
Bohemia Interactive
Charlie Hall is Polygon’s tabletop editor. In 12-plus years as a journalist & photographer, he has covered simulation, strategy, and spacefaring games, as well as public policy.
The post-apocalyptic zombie survival game began as a modification of Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead in 2012. Created by Dean “Rocket2Gunz” Hall (no relation), a member of the New Zealand army and a contractor for BI, DayZ’s stand-alone version was among the first to formally enter Steam’s Early Access program in late 2013. It sold more than one million copies in its first four weeks on the platform. The publisher says, since that time, an additional three million players have logged in.
The final release window was announced in November. Since then, BI says its team has squashed nearly 900 bugs.
DayZ is currently available on Xbox One through the early-access Game Preview program. A full launch is scheduled for 2019, along with a port for PlayStation 4.
